Not His Girl
by Herochick007
Summary: Hermione is a mail order bride, bought for Sirius Black. When he's not at the station to meet her, and Severus is waiting for his new assistant, identities are mistaken. Will Hermione end up with Sirius who isn't interested in settling down, or will Severus find a way to keep the girl who's winning his heart? Western AU


**A/N: I don't own Harry Potter**

**This is for the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

**Insane prompt challenge: 867 genre western**

**Assignment #2 Games development: ******Task 3 - Evelyn from Stardew Valley****** \- Write about someone welcoming someone else to their new home/a new town.**

**cover created by AngelofDarkSorrowsReturns**

**Word count: 2698**

The train pulled up to the station with a loud 'whoosh'. Hermione was thrown from her seat, her lip smacking against the table. She winced and dabbed her handkerchief to her lip. A few small spots of red blossomed on the white fabric. With a sigh, she rose, grabbed her small handbag and headed off the train. Her skirts swished around her legs, coming down past her ankles. Her boots were scuffed, as she hadn't money to afford a new pair. She pulled the letter from her pocket and read it again. She still couldn't believe she'd done it. She'd come across the country to marry this man, Sirius. She hoped he would be kind at least. She climbed down from the train and stumbled onto the station platform. Her lip throbbed.

"Easy there, Miss." A strong hand steadied her and she found herself looking into a pair of black eyes. She looked at the man standing before her. He wore a black duster, his hair long and pulled back, a pair of boots which had splotches on them. His had was tilted to slightly cover his face, including his distinguished looking nose. He looked at her with concern in his eyes. She gave him a lopsided smile.

"Si'us?" she asked looking around. Her swollen lip causing her to lisp. There were no other single men milling around. She'd almost been afraid he wouldn't be here to meet her.

"Ahh, you must the girl I'm waiting for, very well." Severus stated looking at Hermione. She was the only lone girl boarding the train. He smiled noting she did look intelligent enough. "Do you have a trunk?" he asked. She nodded. He walked to the train and took it for her. "Let us not dally today, come along. I'm sure you'll find your accommodations more than adequate." She nodded following him.

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Sirius Black threw another dart and laughed as it missed the board by nearly two feet.

"Nice one," James called. "Hey, aren't you supposed to be meeting your new bride today?" Sirius laughed loudly.

"The wench my parents bought for me? Let her wait, it's not like she's going to walk off with someone else. Besides, we're in the middle of a game, aren't we Remus?" Remus sighed wishing he'd not even come to the saloon today. Every time he got together with these two, things always got out of hand.

"I'm losing anyway," Remus stated slipping from the saloon. He headed towards the train station, hopefully Sirius' bride wasn't too upset about him not being there to meet her. He blinked in shock when he saw the station was empty. Had she left? If so, where had she gone?

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Severus looked at the young lady following him into his home. He hadn't expected his new assistant to be so... quiet. She hadn't said a word since he'd told her to follow him. He held the door open for her.

"Right this way. The laboratory is in the basement. Your set of rooms is up the stairs to left." She blinked. He looked at her and noticed her lip.

"How did this happen?"

"The train, sir, it stopped suddenly," she answered. He nodded, those trains could be rough. He pulled out a rag, poured something blue on it and handed it to her.

"Hold this here," he touched her lip "it will help with the swelling. Now, Miss Lovegood, allow me to carry your trunk upstairs for you. Dinner will be ready in an hour. I'm sure you'd like to freshen up before then." She nodded numbly wondering exactly who Miss Lovegood was and why he had called her that.

She sank onto her bed and looked around the room she had been given. He seemed a decent sort of fellow at least. Maybe she could grow to like, if not, love him? She stood and walked over to the one window in the room. It was over a small desk. There was paper and an inkwell. She smiled. At least he'd provided her with those. Now, if only her room had some books!

Severus finished preparing dinner and was placing on the table when she emerged from her room. She'd changed out of her travel clothes and into a much nicer skirt and blouse. He nodded in approval, but hoped she had some more appropriate clothing for working in the lab. When Miss Lovegood had answered his ad for an assistant, he'd been thrilled. Now, she didn't seem quite the same as she had in the letter. He hoped it was only because she'd been traveling all day and tomorrow they could get started on his latest project.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

"Sirius, did you meet her? Where is she?" Walburga Black asked her son that night at dinner.

"Meet who?"

"Miss Hermione Granger, you're wife... you were supposed to pick her up today!"

"Oh, right, um..."

"You went to the saloon and got drunk with the Potter boy again, didn't you?"

"She wasn't at the station anyway, mum. Remus went to check on her and she wasn't there. She must have chickened out."

"Honestly, we go through all the work of finding you the perfect bride, only to have someone else take her. This is the last time we're doing anything for you, Sirius. That includes giving you money, in fact, since we paid for her to be your wife and she's not. I think it's only fair you pay us back. So your choices are find and marry Miss Granger or we'll collect her bride price from you," Orion stated staring at his son. Sirius shrugged. He'd find another way to get money, hell, James would probably lend him some of his. At least he didn't have to deal with the stupid biddy his parents had bought him.

"Right, I'll get right on that," he stated walking out the door and letting it slam behind him.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Severus walked past Hermione's room. The door was open a crack, he peeked inside. She was sound asleep on the bed. He had a feeling the day had finally gotten to her. He retired to his own room hoping she would be alright. He hadn't been too keen on accepting an assistant, but he knew he needed help and denying such would only accomplish him getting less done.

He rose early the next morning to the smell of sausage cooking. He blinked wondering who would be in his kitchen. He dressed and walked into the kitchen. Miss Lovegood was standing at the stove frying some venison sausage he'd had.

"Good morning," she chirped sounding much better than she had yesterday.

"Good morning, I had no idea you could cook."

"Of course I can, sir," she answered. He smiled. An assistant who made him breakfast, he only hoped she would be as useful in the lab.

She watched him eat and smiled. This was off to a good start. He hadn't made advances at her yet, she was a bit surprised by that. She tried to remember everything the letter had said, but most of it had managed to slip her mind.

"After breakfast, you will put on some suitable clothing and join me in my, well, now our, lab."

"What kind of clothing would you consider suitable?"

"Something plain that you won't mind if it gets ruined. You did bring such did you not?" She nodded. She had a few old things that she wouldn't mind if they caught on fire and burned to ash. She gave Severus a smile. He returned it as they ate. She blinked realizing she wouldn't mind it at all if all her clothes caught on fire. There was something about this man. Something that was making her heart beat a little faster. Yes, she thought. This might just work.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

"James, you've got to help me!"

"With what? Cards? Making your own fire water?"

"No, my parents won't give me more money and they say I have to find that Granger twit or pay them her bride price!" Sirius stated. Remus bit back a laugh.

"I'm not giving you money, I've hit a run of bad luck myself. Remus?"

"I have nothing. You should probably go find the girl, Sirius. If you're lucky, she'll murder you for abandoning her and that'll solve everything." Sirius glared at his best friend. James burst out laughing.

"So, what does this girl even look like?"

"Brown hair, brown eyes, boring from the description I got. Why do you think I didn't bother meeting her?"

"Because you're an idiot who likes to flirt with bar floozies?" Remus answered causing James to burst out laughing again. Sirius glared at both of them.

"Come on, let's go see if anyone remembers seeing little miss boring at the train station." The three left their table and headed out.

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Severus gritted his teeth. This was the third mistake the girl had made in as many minutes.

"Miss Lovegood!" She stomped her foot.

"Granger! My name is Hermione Granger, not Lovegood!" Severus blinked staring at her. This wasn't his new assistant. But she had been the only one on the train. Where had Miss Lovegood disappeared to then?

"You're not here to be my assistant are you?" She shook her head tears in her eyes.

"No, I think there's been a mistake, sir. I'm a mail order bride, being sent to a Mr. Sirius Black. I take it...you're not him?" she whispered. A heavy feeling was starting to fill her heart.

"Sirius... that's the name you were trying to say. My name is Severus." She giggled causing him to blink.

"Well, they do sort of sound the same," she agreed. "I'm sorry. I thought you must be him, you were the only one waiting at the station."

"I was. I was waiting from my new assistant, Miss Luna Lovegood. Was she not on the train with you?" Hermione shook her head.

"I didn't meet anyone else traveling alone like me. What do we do now? I mean, I guess I should find Sirius? He might... he wasn't waiting for me..." Severus paused thinking. He knew about Sirius Black, knew he was a bit of a skirt chaser, the kind that would never settle down. He knew he spent more time at the saloon with Potter and Lupin than doing anything that resembled an honest day's work.

"He'll be at the saloon. I'll take you there, Miss... Granger was it?"

"Yes, but please, call me Hermione. I'm sorry about all of this and I'm sorry about making a mess of your lab."

"It is forgiven. I should have realized... No matter, let's go find Sirius and hand you over." He hated the idea of Black's hands on this girl. Hated the idea of handing her over like a piece of meat. Sure, she wasn't very useful in the lab... she might be taught though? Not to mention, she was very easy on the eyes.

The pair left Severus' home and headed into town. It was a few minute walk. Hermione matched him step for step despite being shorter.

"You said he'd be at the saloon... does he drink a lot?"

"Yes."

"And gamble?"

"Yes, with his parents' money."

"He's rich then?"

"His parents are."

"But what does he do?"

"Gamble, drink, I doubt he's ever done a lick of work in his whole life, Hermione. But the family does have money and owns a fair bit of town. You'll most likely be well cared for." She snorted. She'd never just sat back and been cared for before. It sounded rather boring. At least creating small explosions in Severus' lab had been interesting.

Sirius stood on the platform at the station. Remus and James were around asking people if they'd seen Sirius' missing bride.

"Hey, look, it's Snivilus," James said pointing. Remus sighed. This was not going to be good. Sirius looked to where James was pointing. He hated Severus, hated the fact he had worked himself into a decent amount of money. Hated the fact he was smarter, as if that really mattered. And right now, he hated the fact there was a girl with him... A girl who looked every bit the description of his missing bride.

"You don't think..."

"It can't be!" The three boys rushed towards him.

Severus stopped in tracks. Hermione did the same and looked to where he was looking. There three guys heading their direction, all young, about her and Severus' age.

"One of them is Sirius."

"Yes, the one in the middle." Hermione wrinkled her nose. He wasn't bad looking, no, but compared to Severus...

"Snape! You found her! You found my bride!" Sirius yelled. Hermione felt her heart sink.

"She ended up at my home by accident. My assistant wasn't on the train, it was a case of mistaken identity is all. Once we realized, we went to find you immediately."

"Hello, I'm Sirius Black."

"Hermione Granger."

"Good. Now that we've straightened that out, I should take you to meet my parents and then we'll set a date for our wedding." James and Remus shook their heads. They both knew Sirius could care less about marrying this girl. It was obvious she wasn't interested in him either.

"There is another option, remember you can get out of this," James stated loudly causing Hermione to look at him.

"And how would he do that?" she asked.

"If he pays his parents back your bride price." Hermione blinked. She was a person! Not just something someone bought in a shop. It was obvious Sirius and his parents didn't care about her a bit.

"James, I'm supposed to marry her, remember. Don't mention that stupid idea. It's not like I have the money anyway."

"If you could pay your parents, would you marry me?" she asked after a moment. Sirius blinked.

"Well, you're kind of plain and I hate the idea of being tied down, but how am I supposed to come up with that amount of money. Lady Luck's cursed me at cards and darts." Severus rolled his eyes. He could see exactly where this was going and suddenly, he realized, he was rather fond of the idea.

"Mr. Black," he said slowly. "I find your bride to be quite interesting. You want to keep doing what you're doing with nothing to tie you down. I would like to keep her as the assistant I thought she was. She's teachable enough," Hermione glared at him. "I would like to buy her off of you."

"I'm not property," Hermione muttered. Sirius blinked. As much as he hated Severus, this would settle things, but he'd just have to turn over the money to his parents. Severus watched Sirius think.

"Price and a half," Severus stated knowing Sirius couldn't, wouldn't turn down some gambling money.

"Deal." They shook on it.

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Later that evening Sirius threw a bag of money on the dining room table.

"She's ugly and I'm not getting married!" he stated before leaving again and meeting up with James and Remus. His parents shook their heads and wondered how they could have raised such a son.

Severus found Hermione could cook dinner just was well as breakfast and he'd started teaching her some of the simpler concoctions he brewed. With him holding her hand and going step by step, she was turning out to be decent at brewing. He figured he'd wait a month or so before formally courting her, despite the fact he'd paid her bride price. She was right about not being a piece of meat at market.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

"Severus, you've got a telegram," Hermione announced a few days later. Severus looked up from his book.

"Go ahead and read it, Hermione."

"Dear Severus, stop. Due to a family emergency I will not be coming stop. I apologize for this inconvenience stop. Luna Lovegood stop." Hermione burst out laughing. "Well, now we know why she wasn't on the train."

"Yes, now we do," he agreed easily returning her laughter. Yes, they might have gotten mixed up at first, but there was no denying that Miss Hermione Granger belonged right here, with him.


End file.
